Cloak & Dagger: Tim Kang’s Ivan Hess Is The Key To The Show

We’re past the halfway mark on Marvel and Freeform’s Cloak & Dagger, and that means we’re finally starting to get some answers. Or at least, the key to answers — as with last night’s (July 5) episode “Funhouse Mirrors,” we met Tim Kang’s Ivan Hess. And Hess, along with his daughter Mina (Ally Maki), might just be the key to unlocking Cloak & Dagger‘s biggest mystery: how did they get their powers?

By the way, if Tim Kang looked familiar… That’s probably because he’s had a long career on TV. He’s best known as Kimball Cho from The Mentalist. He’s also recurred on The Vampire Diaries, and appeared last season on American Horror Story. He’s also a spokesperson for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is a great cause and ties in nicely with the themes of this show.

***Spoilers for “Funhouse Mirrors” past this point***

In the episode, Tandy (Olivia Holt) is trying to get more information about Ivan. Ivan worked with her father to build the Roxxon platform that blew up, leading to his death and Tandy and Ty (Aubrey Joseph) powering up. In order to do so, she pretends to be Mina’s intern… But once Mina figures out she’s actually Tandy Bowen (because Tandy is kind of bad at lying), she opens up and introduces her to Ivan.

Ivan, unfortunately, is in a comatose state and has been for years. So Tandy uses her powers to get in his head and see his hopes… But there’s a problem. She encounters an enormous, locked door protected — seemingly — by the Darkforce energy projected by Ty. Tandy ends up connecting with Ivan on a more emotional level (and in a metaphorical way, the memory of her father).

Another important detail we learn this week? Tandy and Ty might be part of a cycle that brings destruction to New Orleans every few decades, and at the end of it, one of them will die. Oh, and Mina is rebuilding a way to tap into the energy that previously caused the Roxxon platform to go boom.

So, why is Tim Kang’s Ivan Hess the key to everything? I’ll let you check out the promo for next week’s episode, “Lotus Eaters”:

As we theorized on the podcast, it seems like Ivan’s memories are trapped behind that door — and to access those memories, Tandy and Ty will have to work together for the first time.

If they can unlock those memories, they can find out what actually happened the day they got their powers… And maybe why (and how) they got those powers, in the first place.

And if they find out all of that, maybe they can stop whatever new destruction is coming their way.

That’s a lot of ifs… And it all depends on freeing Ivan Hess, first.

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